blessings flow from the hard places

They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."
Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?"

But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." (Exodus 17:2-5)

Last week I was talking to a friend of mine who is a financial adviser and estate planner. He was telling me that these days he spends a good part of his time trying to calm people down. "People need to know that their life isn't destroyed as the stock market goes down", he told me.

My friend could see that the key issue people deal with in a panicked financial environment is essentially a spiritual one. There is a reason that the first commandment was that we are to have no other gods before the Lord God- anything else at the center of our heart will ultimately crush us to the ground. In his greater catechism, Martin Luther observed that all the commandments essentially feed off the first one, and that the reason we struggle with issues of money, sex and power is because we have something else at the center of our lives besides the Lord God.

We learn in the Exodus event that the desert is the place where one comes to the understanding that one has no other resource available other than what is given by the grace and mercy of God.

The wilderness teaches me that until I know that God is all I have I will never know that God is all I need.

The desert is where all the other brooks dry up. But the reality is as long as I am drinking from any other source, I will never taste the sweetness of His fountain.

The desert is where God leads me to the hard places- the places where His abundant blessing flows. And as a believer I know this to be true because I can see that the ultimate hard place was the cross- and that Jesus is the rock struck.

it takes a season

We are one of those rare Baptist churches that actually celebrates the Lent season- and I know that this fact always raises a few eyebrows and causes more than a few questions from some of the people we encounter in the community. "I thought you were Baptist..." or "I didn't know you were Catholic" are just a few of the responses I've heard people encounter during this season.

I always like to remind people of a few things whenever we talk about this season:

1. The Lenton season predates denominationalism as we know it. It has been a Christian tradition for at least 1,100 years- therefore it does not reside with any particular faith tradition exclusively. In fact, the earliest history of a forty day fast before Easter Sunday actually dates to the first century in the earliest church- there is strong evidence that the earliest believers set aside this time before Easter as a time of training and preparing new believers for baptism. It is a tradition that is now practiced by Christians from all stripes- including conservative evanglelicals. Several years ago when the movie "The Passion of Christ" came out, popular Baptist pastor and theologian John Piper wrote a series of devotions for Lent season focusing on the meaning of the cross.

2. We started the tradition in our church because we have come to see the value of long seasons. Our desire is to take the Christian holidays back from secular culture. Our desire is to turn the holidays into Holy Days again. Secular society has made Christmas about Santa Clause and Easter about the Easter Bunny. We believe that as followers of Christ we have a responsibility to reclaim the holy ground lost over the past 100 years or so in Western culture. There is value in taking a season of time, in this case 40 days of fasting, and focus your heart and attention on the one thing that is most important in your life and to your existence- the cross of Christ and His resurrection.

3. It is a great way for families to help their children understand the importance of the teaching of the cross. Our family has celebrated the Lent season since our children were small. The result is that it has become a very important part of their lives- to take time out in the Spring season, when the days are lengthening and the weather is beginning to turn mild, to focus on the most important issue to human life and existence- the substituionary death of Christ on the cross and the life that that event has brought to us.

The truth of "boast only in the cross' is not something one only thinks of in a passing way. It is a truth to be meditated on, contemplated, chewed up and digested. It is a truth that should become manna and should grow in it's meaning and understanding and eventually become a part of your being and even possess you and take a place of prominence in your heart and thinking.

In order for a person to come to that point of understanding that everything in this life that I have to boast about was brought to me as a result of the cross and purchased by His blood one has to really dig down and think. I mean really think. A person has to think for more than thirty seconds during the commericals or at the stop light- a person has to think about it a long time and over a long period of time.

A person has to come to it every day and make it daily bread. A person can't just look at a diamond like this one time and then put it down. That person has to hold it in his hand for days on end and turn it over and over again and hold it out and really look at it through the light.

That doesn't happen in just a day or an hour.

It takes a season.

And even after many years of seasons you will come to realize if you haven't already that as incredible and beautiful the reality of the gospel really is to you, you have really only begun to scratch the surface of the true meaning of it.

a book a month in 2009

Last year at this time I made the suggestion that we all commit to reading at least one book a month. In keeping with that tradition, here is the next installment of my suggestions for "a book a month":

1. The Reason for God by Tim Keller. Keller is one of those guys who can explain things in a way that makes you say "I wish I'd thought of that". The book pokes holes in many of the objections people have against the concept of God.

2. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. This past year I dusted off my old copy of this great Christian classic. It reminded me of why Lewis has had such an impact on me through the years.

3. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan. If you want to know why your world atlas looks the way it does, you have to go back to Paris in 1919. A fascinating look at one of the most important years in modern world history.

4. In My Place Condemned He Stood by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever. A terrific study into the meaning of atonement.

5. Modern Physics and Ancient Faith by Stephen Barr. A physicist takes a skeptical look at the meaning of the universe and to his surprise finds himself on the side of ancient religion.

6. Dying in the Land of Promise by Donald E. Wagner. If you have ever wondered what happened to the descendants of the first century church- this book is part of your answer.

7. A History of Christianity in Asia by Samuel Moffitt. You know how Christianity moved west into Macedonia, Rome and Europe, but do you know how it moved east into Persia, India and China? This book tells the fascinating story of Christianity's eastern advance.

8. Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. In my five years on the personnel committee of the International Mission Board, I have observed that a high percentage of young missionaries going on the field have read and been captivated by this book. Read it if you dare.

9. Sailing the Wine Dark Sea by Thomas Cahill. Most of the framework for Western culture was providentially built upon the foundation of Greek philosophy. This book explains how that happened.

10. St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox by G.K. Chesterton. A brilliant biography about a brilliant theologian written by a brilliant apologist.

11. Christ and Culture Revisited by Dan Carson. Carson is voice of impeccable reason and intellect in the debate over how Christians should engage culture.

12. Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Bersheers. Driscoll isn't for everyone, but I enjoy his earthy, plain spoken style of teaching and writing.

why i can't be good for goodness sake

A couple of weeks ago the "American Humanist Association" started a 40,000 dollar ad campaign in Washington D.C. promoting their cause for leaving Christ out of Christmas. "Why believe in God? Just be good for goodness sake" the advertisement says.

A spokesperson for the group said, "we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds."

Here's why I think that seed would never take root if we are thinking rationally or critically:

1. It is irrational to think that a person can believe there is no God and then to say he will be good "for goodness sake". That statement is as much of a faith statement as any religious assumption and does not hold up to critical scrutiny. My question to the AHA would be, "How does one define goodness?" Or maybe an even better question would be, "How does one know that there is such a thing as goodness?"

When a person makes a statement that we should be good for goodness sake he is presupposing that goodness has been defined in some way and is broadly understood and has influence and meaning. To assume goodness is to assume some kind of moral absolute- a kind of higher authority has to be in place to define that goodness. Otherwise, what makes MY assumption of goodness any better than anyone else's? Who says your definition of goodness is really good? By what standard are you defining your goodness?

For instance, what is the moral authority in Atheistic humanism? Isn't it true that Darwinian atheism would have to say that the highest good is that which advances the species? Is it not true that in nature big fish eat little fish and big cells eat small cells? Does it not stand to reason then that if your definition of goodness is "survival of the fittest" that murder and pestilence and rape and racial genocide are all as equally good and acceptable as any expression of love or kindness?

So I have no problem with the atheist who wants to advertise his world view on Washington city buses saying something like "Be good for your own sake but don't push your sense of goodness on me!" or "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die!" and claiming to be rational and consistent in his beliefs in those expressions, but it is intellectually dishonest for him to say "Just be good for goodness sake" when the very philosophical world-view he is trying to promote assumes that "goodness" is an unprovable and even irrelevant concept.

2. A second observation I would make is that it is irrational and not critical thinking for a group that claims to be atheist and therefore does not want a holiday promoting a religious view to then want to promote their own world view. After all, are they not then guilty of the very thing they are criticizing? If a person is trying to make the argument that no truth is absolute and therefore we should live in a world without any faith assumptions, without any religions or expressions of religion (like Christmas) because after all truth is not knowable and so we should live in harmony without having all these faiths pushed upon us, then by virtue of their own argument they should not be trying to promote their view.

The humanist objection to religion is that it is "unscientific" and superstitious. The humanist believes that truth is relative and therefore religious claims on absolute truth are irrational. But to say "Truth is relative" is a statement of truth and therefore should be considered not dependable and irrational. To the person who says "There is no such thing as absolute truth", we should always ask, "Are you absolutely sure about that?" If truth is unknowable then that truth is unknowable and therefore the belief about what is not knowable is by virtue of it's own definition a faith assumption. Make no mistake about it, the American Humanist Association is a faith organization. Their expressions of non-religion are in and of themselves religious views. They are faith assumptions about the meaning of life, being and salvation. "Be good for goodness sake" is as much a religious statement as "Oh come let us adore Him".

3. It is irrational to think that if everyone in America believed like the AMA that somehow the world would be a better place. Nothing could be further from the truth (and I believe that absolutely). Imagine what it would be like if everyone of us relied upon our own version of goodness.

For thousands of years Christian culture has believed that man's sense of morality and goodness came from outside of humanity and is therefore not determined by his feelings, sensitivities or emotions. Morality has always been understood as something that has come to us. In fact, the very celebration of Christmas points to Immanuel- God has come to us. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God..." (John1:1)

The influence of humanism in our culture is increasing. This is seen in a new kind of morality that says that truth is not found in a higher authority, but is found in the personal whims and feelings within the human heart.

Think of how destructive this belief truly is.

Imagine if Western culture had continued in the Greco-Roman ethic of the first century that women were little more than property and that weak, handicapped and female newborn babies could be cast into garbage dumps and that lower castes are destined for exploitation. What if Christianity had not reversed these terrible paganisitc beliefs in the third century?

What would it have been like if Christianity had not taken hold and Western culture bought into the Humanistic idea that we can find goodness in ourselves?

Imagine what our world would be like if it had not been for great men of faith and science like Augustine, Anselm and Ambrose- who were inspired by their reading of scripture and from a desire to know His creation sewed the seeds of scientific method and philosophy.

Imagine our world without hospitals or universities, public education and health care, all the result of Christianity's influence in the Middle Ages.

What if Western cultures had just relied on their own sense of goodness and not begun the exploration of a created universe as a way of better understanding the glory of God?

Imagine if their had been no Luther who held up Scripture and pointed to the injustices of a bloated institution that was operating more out of it's own need for power than it was an understanding of the sacred text.

What if 18th century England had not mandated the end of slavery because of their biblical understanding of the value of all human life?

Imagine if their had been no Puritan movement that dreamed of a society based on the Biblical concepts of community and righteousness and so acted on that belief by sailing to a new world and risking everything to establish the American colonies.

Imagine how terrible the outcome if Atheists and Humanist world views promoted by men like Hitler, Marx, Stalin, Lennon, Mao and Pol Pot had prevailed in the early 20th centuries .

Imagine an America without the Great Awakenings in which social movements, inspired by spiritual renewal and the teaching of scripture such as the abolition of slavery, child labor laws, property rights, and women's right to vote had never been enacted.

Imagine if there had been no Martin Luther King who led a movement across the south for racial equality based on his view that there was a higher moral law that superseded the laws and "feelings" of man.

The AHA is neither rational nor thinking critically in their advertisement and I hope their ideas do not prevail. But they have every right to promote their beliefs and to do what they can to convince others to believe in their religion.

But they only have that right because they are beneficiaries of a society that was established on the biblical concept of soul competency and freedom of the conscience of belief promoted by theologians like Roger Williams, the 17th century Baptist minister who founded Rhode Island and whose beliefs, rooted in scripture, were formalized into law and became the precursor to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

To say that we can simply rely on the goodness of the human heart is not just irrational, it is also terribly naive. If there is no God, there is no moral absolute that defines the meaning of goodness. The lessons of history very clearly teach that man is incapable of finding his own goodness.

That is why I can't be good for goodness sake.

And it is the reason that this is the time of the year we so vigorously celebrate His incarnation by singing songs like "Joy to the World" that have words like this:

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

giving thanks in all circumstances

I was thinking this morning that Thanksgiving could not have come at a better time this year- a person is hard pressed to find much good news these days (unless of course you are a Sooner fan and your team obliterated the number 2 team in the nation last week!).

Providentially, our text and memory verse this week is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess 5:16-18)

I will never forget my New Testament professor at Southwestern Seminary, Dr. J.W. McGorman lecturing on this verse one day in class. He said to us in his thick Nova Scotian accent,

"Give thanks IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances. One never gives thanks for those things that break the heart of God. But one can always find reason to be thankful."

C.S. Lewis has famously said he believes the first words we will say in heaven are the words, "Ah hah, now I understand..."

I think of a classic example of this in the story of Corrie Ten Boom, the committed Dutch believer whose family provided refuge for Jews during the German holocaust of World War 2.

She and her other family members were caught and as a result were thrown into several prison camps before eventually ending up at the infamous Ravensbruk concentration camp in Germany. She tells the story in her autobiography, The Hiding Place, of complaining to her sister Betsie about the horrible filth surrounding her bunk in that prison- and especially the flies. Her sister reminded her of this very passage- give thanks IN all circumstances. The two women sat on Corries bed and Betsie led them in a prayer of thanks for the flies.

Corrie commented that she could be thankful for just about everything in her life- except for those blasted flies.

It wasn't until years later after Corrie had been liberated from the prison that she had a conversation with one of the men who had been a prison guard at the camp that she learned the reason she and Betsie were provided relative freedom in their rooms- and thus were able to keep Bibles and to hold Bible studies and to develop somewhat of a Christian community in that horrible place-

The reason was that the guards couldn't stand the flies.

We may not always know why we are giving thanks IN the circumstances- but God does.

This Thanksgiving in between watching football and cooking meals and catching up with family-why not spend some time thanking God for those blessings you can see all around you- and then devote some time thanking Him even for the things you don't understand right now-

but one day will.

new day at imb

This past week I have been in Houston Texas for the latest installment of the International Mission Board. Here are the highlights:

1. The Board has definitely changed. I am truly amazed at how quickly the complexion and dynamics have changed over the past year. We are no longer bogged down in meaningless controversy over senseless minutia. There is a strong sense that what we are dealing with matters and that we are putting our energies into those things the convention has assigned us to- reaching the nations for Christ.

2. Paul Chitwood is proving to be an excellent chairman. He is professional, concise and fair. I appreciate how he handles our meetings. He is well informed on the issues and anticipates problems before they come to the public meetings. He is well liked and seems to have a great relationsihp with staff.

3. The Board is setting a course for radical change within the IMB. The details have not yet been hammered out, but to summarize we are moving from a strategy that is regionally based to a strategy that is more oriented to people groups and will seek to more concisely partner with local churches to reach clusters of people groups around the planet. Although there are still many questions, I am excited about what these changes may mean for the future of misisonal strategies for churches like ours. The hope of the board is that we will be ahead of the curve in implementing this strategy as missional philosophy changes in the coming years from a more institutional centric approach to a more local church sending approach.

4. There is more harmony and synergy on the Board than at any time in my five years. We are finally working together WITH staff to accomplish objectives. The divisiveness, power plays and suspiciousness of the past has given way to a dedicated commitment to accomplish a big and meaningful objective. The controversies of the past have practically evaporated. Trust levels are high and the spirit is positive. We all seem to be driven the same agenda.

5. We commissioned one of our largest groups of missionaries in the history of the Board this week. I continue to be blown away by the quality of new missionaries coming in. The young men and women coming on the field are the absolute cream of the crop! There is no question about it- the best thing we do as Southern Baptists is world missions.

In a day of great skepticism regarding convention politics and power plays, at least from my little corner of the world within the IMB Trustee Board, I will tell you I am increasingly optimistic that though we are not perfect by any stretch, we finally seem to be spending more time focusing on the mountains than we do the molehills.

For that I give God the glory!

why so downcast?

Have you noticed that there is more than a little paranoia going around today? What is our response as believers?

I have always found it interesting that Psalm 42:5, 42:11 and 43:5 all say the same thing.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

The implication of this passage is that if I look on the inside and see that I am downcast, it can only mean that I have been investing my emotions in the wrong stock.

My "downcastness" tells me some things about myself. Worry is an indicator of a spiritual condition- it is a sure sign of lack of faith.

All of this is a good reminder for us that as Christians we have a view of history that is unique in all the world. When the Psalmist says "Why so downcast Oh my soul?" he is not just soul searching, he is making the point that the way we believe about our faith (trust in the Lord) will impact the way we see our future.

So how are we as Christians to see history and our future? Here are a few things to keep in mind while living in times of uncertainty:

1. To understand the meaning of the future is to understand the meaning of history.

The reason so many are paranoid about the future is because they don't have a proper understanding of history. Hedrikus Berkof observes:

"Our generation is strangled by fear: fear for man, for his future, and for the direction in which we are driven against our will and desire. And out of this comes a cry of illumination concerning the meaning of he existence of mankind, and concerning the goal to which we are directed. It is a cry for an answer to the age old question of the meaning of history."

He goes on to say that the church should provide the answer to this question since we have it in the Bible. We have in scripture all we need for a complete theology of history. But because we don't have it and don't contemplate it, we are struck down by our fears and fail to live in the full light of the Christian interpretation of history.

He continues:

The twentieth century Church is spiritually unable to stand against the rapid changes that take place around her because she has not learned to view history from the perspective of the reign of Christ. For that reason, she thinks of the events of her own time in entirely secular terms. She is overcome with fear in a worldly manner, and in a worldly manner she tries to free herself from fear. In this process (her view of) God functions no more than a stop-gap."

So it is good for us to have a clear understanding of history. The Bible teaches us plainly and effectively that all of history has a beginning, a middle and a glorious ending. This is unique in all world philosophies and religions. Only Christianity sees history and the future as a linear plane from beginning to end.

Ancient Greek philosophy and Eastern religions saw history as cyclical- nature and creation are constantly reincarnating and reinventing itself. Things occur in endlessly repeated cycles so that what is happening today will somehow be repeated in the future. This is the common world view of most Eastern religions today. In this perspective of life, the individual is devalued and life cannot be seen as moving toward any significant end. Time and history are not on a linear plane, therefore the only relief from the bondage of time is to somehow be released from it. In other words, in this view life is something to be escaped from- there is no sense of destiny or hope or future glory. This is the predominant view of most of the world's population.

Another view of history is the atheist view that we are all here by chance. The atheist sees no purpose for history or the future and believes that life has no meaning whatsoever. This is the existentialist view that says "get all you can out of life, can all you get, and then sit on the can!" Life has no meaning in other words, history is just a chance conglomeration of events that have no significant meaning or course.

There are many Christians today who are practical atheists. That is to say they profess Christianity but they live like atheists. In other words they live as if man is at the center of history. They live as if life has no meaning or direction. They live as if they are the center of the universe and "if it is to be it is up to me!" They live as if they are the captain of their own ship and the master of their own soul.

That is the atheist view of history.

But it is not the Christian view.

a. First of all, the Christian sees that everything in life is working out for the good.

This is what we call "sacred history". That is to say the redemptive plan of God is working all throughout history from the time of the Old Testament to it's fulfillment in the life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ. All of history points to that central event. The Christian perspective since that time understands that we have entered a "new age" in which the purposes of God will finally culminate in full fruition at the final redemption at the end of the age in the second coming of Christ.

b. God is the Lord of history.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, happens in this life without the knowledge and direction of God. He turns the heart of the king wherever he wishes (Proverbs 21:1), He accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will (Ephesians 1:11), and he has set the times and determined the direction of nations (Acts 17:26) and all things work together for the good of those who know Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Because He is in control, history has direction and meaning and purpose.

c. Christ is at the center of history.

Have you ever wondered why we live during a time that is called 2008? The reason is that we mark our calendar by the time of Christ. All of history is marked by B.C. and A.D.- "Before Christ" and "After His Dominion". This illustrates an important biblical understanding of history- that the central event of human history was the coming of Christ. The central truth of our lives is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross for payment for our sins and the redemption of mankind.

d. The new age has therefore already been ushered in.

The Christian in the early church believed he was living in the last days and in a new age. Every believer since that time has seen that he or she was living in a new day that was ushered in by the coming of Christ. "The Kingdom of God is among you" Jesus told the disciples. When Jesus said of John the Baptist in Luke 7:28, "Among those born of women none is greater than John, and yet he who is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John" He is making an important point about the Kingdom ushered in by Christ. He is making the point that John the Baptist is the last of an old age- he is an Old Testament prophet pointing to Christ. But that those who become a part of Christ's kingdom will begin to live in a new aeon- characterized by the work of His Spirit and the formation of the Church. We are living in a new age brought about the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

But just because Christ rules in our heart and has begun a new age, it does not mean that there are not other forces at play. We are in the "already not yet" time of the Kingdom. The wheat continues to contend with the tares. The kingdom of man exists alongside the Kingdom of God. There will come a day when the Kingdom is experienced in full fruition after the coming of Christ, but until that time we still deal with "this present darkness". In other words, just because Christ has won the victory, it doesn't mean that all of creation has figured it out yet. I can see that in those times when my soul is downcast it is likely because the enemy has done a good job of convincing me that I can be my own salvation. John Marsh illustrates this point well:

Hitler had occupied Norway, but in 1945 it was liberated. Suppose that up in the almost inaccessible north, some small village with a Nazi overlord failed to hear the news of the liberation for some weeks. During that time, we might put it, the inhabitants of that village were living in the "old" time of Nazi occupation instead of the "new" time of Norwegian liberation. Any person who now lives in a world that has been liberated from the tyranny of evil powers either in ignorance of, or in indifference to, what Christ has done, is precisely in the position of those Norwegians t o whom the good news of deliverance has failed to penetrate. In other words, it is quite easy for us to see that men can live in B.C. in A.D.

e. All history is moving toward the ultimate goal of the new heavens and the new earth.

The Bible sees all of history moving toward a divinely appointed goal. Every line, paragraph and page of scripture points us to the centerpiece of history in the coming of Christ and moves us forward toward the ultimate day of His second coming when all of creation will be healed once and for all.

This leads to the second important point about understanding history:

2. The Christian view of history is overwhelmingly optimistic

The cosmic dimensions of history are clearly taught in scripture in glorious passages like Ephesians and Colossians 1 and Romans 8. Scripture is replete with enthusiastic passages that are incredibly optimistic in their scope and future outlook. All of scripture is escatological in nature. That is to say scripture is continually pointing us to the future. Christianity, therefore, by it's very nature is optimistically futuristic.

We will live today exactly the way we believe about the future. If you have hope for a glorious future, it will impact your present.

As an example, think of two people who both have the same boring and difficult job. Imagine that they both work 10 hours a day doing the same laborious task over and over again- but one of them believes that at the end of the year he will make 10,000 dollars while the other one believes he will make 10,000,000 dollars. Do you think they would see their work differently?

Of course they would! The one who believes he is only making 10,000 dollars at the end of the year will probably quit after a few days while the other one who believes he is making millions will see his work as joy.

The way you believe about your future will absolutely impact the way you live today. So when the Psalmist asks, "Why so downcast?", he is making the point that when we have our trust directed at those things that really matter and really count, it will impact the way we see life to the degree that we are not overwhelmed by life's circumstances. This is why we say a proper theology of history will help us to see current events no matter how daunting or discouraging, in a realistically optimistic light.